David Cameron devises battle plans to halt UKIP momentum

TORY MPs are planning all-night sittings in Parliament to push through David Cameron’s EU ­Referendum Bill.

Nigel Farage and Douglas Carswell have had plenty to smile about [REUTERS]

Strategists at Conservative party headquarters were last night drawing up detailed battle plans aimed at forcing the Bill on to the statute book to blunt Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s appeal.

Senior sources said the move, announced just days after Tory MP Douglas Carswell defected to Ukip, will show the switch had “spectacularly backfired” by galvanising Conservative resolve to ensure the Prime Minster’s January promise to have an in-out referendum in 2017 becomes law before next year’s general election.

One said: “Carswell’s decision is totally counterproductive because the Conservatives are the only party offering an in/out referendum by 2017.

“All it has done is make Conservative MPs even more determined in the battle with Labour to pass our EU Referendum Bill.”

Bob Neill, the Bill’s main sponsor, said: “We are prepared to use every procedural device we are entitled to in order to ensure we have this Bill. Douglas is wrong to underestimate the resolve of the Conservatives. Getting it passed will be proof positive of the party’s will to hold this referendum.” Mr Cameron’s drive to reform Europe received a further major boost last night from the new president of the European Council.

Donald Tusk, who will give up his job as Polish prime minister to take the role, singled out the UK’s ­agenda as an area where he wants to make progress.

He said he “could not imagine” the EU without Britain as a ­member, insisting it would be ­possible to “reach an agreement” on issues such as freedom of ­movement of labour.

Friends of Mr Carswell last night suggested he might have been motivated by “pragmatic and ­personal” reasons in his shock decision to jump ship.

One said: “Douglas was disillusioned with Cameron but I suspect his real reason for defecting was to hold on to his seat next year. Ukip polls strongly in that area. He has never been after high power but he does enjoy his job and he likes his constituency.”

The result of this by-election will be more important than Carswell’s defection. If he wins convincingly, it will be the greatest proof possible of Ukip’s arrival

Neil Hamilton, ex-Conservative MP

The claim was supported by arch Tory Eurosceptic John Redwood. Writing on his website, he said: “Had Mr Carswell resigned from the Conservative Party and from Parliament a ­couple of years ago before we had achieved the changes of policy we needed I could have understood.”

However, claims that Mr Carswell based his decision on “a survival instinct” were rejected by Neil Hamilton last night.

The ex-Conservative MP, who was elected to Ukip’s National Executive Committee in 2011, said that success in the Clacton by-­election, expected to take place within two months, would open the floodgates for more defections.

He said: “The result of this by-election will be more important than Carswell’s defection. If he wins convincingly, it will be the greatest proof possible of Ukip’s arrival.”

Opposition by the Liberal Democrats means the Referendum Bill is vulnerable to filibustering. Labour MPs and peers did all they could to delay an identical Bill earlier this year. Provided it is passed by the Commons unamended, it will become law regardless of the Lords’ views under the rarely used Parliament Act.